It has been a long time now since the incredibly harmful effects of smoking have become public knowledge. Nevertheless, cigarettes haven’t gone anywhere. This means that while many have successfully quit smoking and the habit is nowhere near as common as it once was, a whole industry of smoking cessation products has been built upon the very fact that smoking is still technically widespread. This means there are many smoking cessation products out there which either do not work or do not work for everybody that tries them. The one-size-fits-all approach to quitting smoking simply doesn’t exist.
However, there is one type of health product that has become amazingly popular in recent years, and which genuinely has the potential to change that. You might not have heard that CBD is an excellent tool for quitting smoking, but that’s probably because it is more well known for other things. From reducing stress to helping stabilize mood, and helping with sleep to improving concentration and focus, CBD has been making its mark incredibly rapidly – and it has seen a rapid popularity growth to match. Part of the popularity is down to its perceived ability to help smokers kick the habit.
The Drawbacks of Traditional Nicotine Replacement Therapy
If you have ever tried to quit smoking (successfully or otherwise) then you will have no doubt come across nicotine patches, nicotine gum, and all the other nicotine-containing products designed to give your body a supply of the addictive substance found in cigarettes to keep withdrawal symptoms at bay as you quit cigarettes. This so-called nicotine replacement therapy has been around for a lot longer than CBD, but it’s already paling in comparison.
The reason why nicotine replacement therapy has pretty low cessation rates compared to CBD is that it ignores the behavioral component of the smoking habit. When you quit smoking, you don’t only quit the intake of cigarette substances into your body, you also quit the act of smoking itself. That act is pleasurable to many people, and the actual sensation of drawing on a cigarette is closely related to satisfaction of the nicotine craving.
Once you quit, things get even worse as you now associate the same action with the cessation of, often unpleasant, side effects. Products like nicotine patches and gums simply do not replace the dopamine surge that results from the act of smoking, and the behavioral habit which follows it.
How CBD Can Help
You might think then that the reason CBD can help with giving up a smoking habit is simply that you can vape the stuff, but there is much more to it than this. In fact, CBD can alleviate many of the withdrawal symptoms which can arise when you stop consuming nicotine. For example, CBD is known to help with restlessness, insomnia, irritability, and erratic mood – all of these are symptoms of nicotine withdrawal. Yammy CBD (https://yammycbd.com/), a company specializing in the latest CBD products like CBD gummies, vapes, and oil, say that a great proportion of their sales go towards customers investing in CBD for precisely this purpose.
The reason CBD helps with all these things is that it positively impacts the body’s endocannabinoid system, which maintains homeostasis of several different vital functions. CBD does this by supplementing the system with more endocannabinoids. The endocannabinoid system is related to stress response, sleep cycles, mood, pain perception, and much more. All of these are adversely affected by smoking cessation; CBD readdresses the balance.
After yet another failed attempt to quit, you would be forgiven for losing hope. But CBD could just be the thing that gives it back.
